Blog Details

We have all experienced a lack of motivation whether in our schools, colleges or in our workplaces. Negative thoughts from different corners creep in our mind and demotivate our system afflicting it with lethargy. Thus, we find our tummy still bulging out because we stopped exercising, our projects still unfinished as we started procrastinating and our studies are undone as we wasted our time watching a parrot talk on YouTube. It is hard to stay motivated, yet it is harder to remain motivated for a long time. If you are one of those people who find it difficult to remain focused in the long run, then this blog might help you achieve your long-forgotten objectives, at last.

Understanding How Motivation Works

Motivation is the driving force in our lives. It gives us a direction that helps us change the course of our lives positively and move forward. As quoted by Albert Einstein, “If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal; not to people or things.” Psychology defines motivation as a process that initiates, directs and sustains goal-oriented behaviors. However, having the desire to accomplish something is not the only thing required to achieve your goal.

Components of Motivation

Motivation comprises of three major components:

Activation- This basically refers to decision making in the process of initiating any behavior, in order to achieve the goal.

Persistence- This refers to putting constant efforts towards the tasks that arise in the process of working towards the goal. When working with persistence, when tries not to give up however dire situations or obstacles may arise.

Intensity- It refers to the amount of concentration and effort put in by someone in order to achieve their goal.

Types of Motivation

Intrinsic motivation- The motivation or the driving force that arises from within an individual is referred to as intrinsic motivation. A person achieves personal gratification and satisfaction upon accomplishing intrinsically motivated tasks. One simply enjoys doing these tasks and sees these as an opportunity for self-growth.

Extrinsic motivation- The behaviors that are driven by extrinsic or external rewards like money, fame, glory, praise or grades is referred to as extrinsic motivation. This originates from outside the individual. Remember that movie called Inception? Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

Steps To Remain Motivated And Focused

You can follow the steps given below to achieve a task within a limited period of time:
Step 1: Create a List
This might be the easiest thing you can do. Just remind yourself about your cobwebbed unfinished projects and dig them out from their grave to put them on your list. For example, you once thought that you will join swimming lessons or gym but forgot about them as you became busy over something. So it is about time you jot them down on this anti-procrastination list. This list must include all those activities that are of significance to you or to the people around you. Do not put any unnecessary activities on this list, such as “invent a new ice-cream flavor”. You can save these activities for your retirement.
Now, if you have low confidence and think that you will not be able to perform as well as others can then seek help from your friends or family or you can even opt for a counselor to nip the bud while it is still growing. Comforting words can really motivate a person to do something. And whenever you are ready, add these things to your list and work towards them.
Step 2: Prioritize Your List
For this step, activation from the components of motivation will come into handy. You must decide which activity according to you is more important than the others and then create a top 10 or 20 list accordingly as those generic YouTubers do. Sounds interesting, does not it?
Step 3: Set a Due Date
Now, you must set a due date for every activity by the end of which you must finish the task or at least try to. If these tasks include long term activities such as doing Yoga or writing a blog every day, then 21 days are enough to make them a habit. Above all, you might require to reschedule all your daily tasks to accommodate these new ones.
Step 4: Work And Punish
This step mainly involves developing your focus to perform these activities and doing them consistently. If by chance you miss any of your activity due to procrastination or unplanned engagement, then you must punish yourself. These punishments can include eating or doing something you hate, such as donating the cake you would love to eat to your sibling or sending your crush an “I hate you” text. These can do an enormously great job.
Step 5: Acquire Persistence And Intensity
These two components of motivation are very difficult to breed within an individual. But when someone successfully inherits them, they can assuredly accomplish anything they want. When someone works towards a task persistently and remains intensely focused throughout the process, he or she can acquire a flow. A flow can be defined as a period of time when a person works for something in a trance while forgetting about all mundane things. It is regarded as an achievement of nirvana by those who have achieved it. It is said that Michelangelo worked in a flow while painting the Sistine Chapel. He rarely ate, drank or talked for three days. If you can achieve flow, you will be able to tame your motivation however you want.
Step 6: All Work No Play Makes Jack A Dull Boy
This step involves rewarding yourself for all the hard work you did with something, its basically opposite to step 4. Go buy yourself chocolate or oversleep for a day and try to lose yourself a little. But do not lose your motivation while you doing so.